Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance (SMTV) is my favourite JRPG of 2024 thus far! Never having played the series before I was unsure of what I was in for. Boy, was I surprised when I realised this is actually a demonic creature collecting game jam packed with exciting gameplay.
Leaning on my nostalgia for the old saying “Gotta catch ’em all!”, I eagerly jumped into the world of Da’at, a post-apocalyptic Tokyo overrun with terrifying beasts. From the moment I coerced my first demon to join my team I was totally hooked. I mean, a giant slime is not as cute as an Eevee but it sure has the personality.
With an overwhelming amount of mechanics to learn, a lot of collectables to hunt, a nostalgic soundtrack and an engrossing story; Vengeance is by far the definitive way to play Shin Megami Tensei V.
Story: Choices, Choices, Choices
Beginning in modern day Tokyo, you take on the role of a high school student confronted with a game changing choice. Your decision will affect the story of the game and it’s here the new definitive edition content begins.
Whatever your choice, it will determine whether you play the original SMTV story, or the new story called the “Canon of Creation”. As I am a first time player I decided to play through the original story.
Murder on the Station Floor
You wake up at school when an announcement warns students not to walk home alone tonight. Chaos has broken out as hordes of people surround a dead body at the local train station. With sirens sounding and people blocking the way, you take a detour home – which of course, is through a dark, long and scary tunnel. As you cautiously make your way through, the tunnel shakes collapses…
Waking up buried in sand, you are in a desert wasteland that was once home to the original Tokyo. It is now the demon Netherworld known as Da’at.
Blinded by the gusty winds, you trek towards some ruins where you meet Aogami, a Nahobino. Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember much about who he is, he just has an urge to protect you. To do this, your body merges with his to form a powerful demon hunter with luscious blue hair.
Together, you travel the world of Da’at hunting demons, recruiting them to your team and trying to take down powerful beings. Form the most formidable team of ghastly monsters and you will be victorious at the end of this gruelling battle.
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Gameplay: Gotta Corrupt ‘Em All
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is an Atlas game through and through. You have high school students, a distinct blue colour hue and lots of cutscenes. However, the deeper I dived into the story I began to realise this was something quite different, to the point I actually compare this to more of a Pokemon experience.
Pokemon? Well, hear me out. SMTV at its heart, is a turn based creature collection game and I loved this. Instead of throwing a Pokeball to catch them, you simply talk to them! With a little persuasion and corruption, you can ask them to join your team. They will then fight alongside you to take down the hordes of monsters that await.
The prologue at the beginning of the game was rather tedious. I loved the feeling of running through the world when I could, however, for the first five or so hours, you would constantly be stopped for some kind of tutorial. This really ruined the initial flow for me and I would have preferred some of these be pop ups on the side of the screen.
Missions are easy to follow in SMTV. With a mini-map in the bottom left hand corner of the screen pointing you in the right direction, it was hard to get lost. I really enjoyed exploring in this game, with so many demons crawling around and many hidden secrets to find in each open area.
Dungeons!
At the end of each main story quest, you arrive at a dungeon. I liked these much more contained areas, they had a set goal and were fun to explore. The first dungeon is set in modern Japan where the school is under attack. You navigate yourself around the different floors of the school and defeat the demons blocking your way.
At the end of the first dungeon, you are met with a hideous looking boss called Lahmu. This disgusting demon is literally taking students’ souls to make himself stronger. His design literally made me feel ill, everything about Lahmu was vile and gruesome. The way he sucked up students’ souls really made me want to take him down, and I used my equally horrible team to ruin his soul sucking ways.
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Side Quests: The More the Merrier
Now, I am not normally a side quest guy but when the price is right I am your man. I quite happily did all sorts of chores for the obnoxious demons living in Da’at. I had to find objects they had lost, give them equipment they required and even defeat certain enemies to get my rewards.
Guastave (the shopkeeper), asks you to hunt for tiny red demons called Miman. When I returned a certain number of them he would reward me with things like a HP Pack, full of glorious items I could use to recover some HP during battles. This was a fun incentive to try and find these tricky critters throughout the world.
The great thing about the world design is that it is broken up into open areas a bit like Monster Hunter. This is probably one of my favourite styles of open world, as it gives you enough direction on where to head next but also gives you plenty to explore.
As you travel around the world you find Magatsuhi crystals used to refill your HP, MP and special move gauge. A navigator demon also works alongside you to discover various points of interest and treasure boxes which unveil a whole new range of special equipment you can use in battle.
Fast travelling around the world is super easy. You do this by unlocking blue points called Leyline Founts allowing you to travel from one point to another in a blink of an eye. This took away some of my frustration when having to backtrack. Here you can also save your game, go shopping or fuse demons together.
Unique Mechanics: To Fuse or not to Fuse
Fusing demons was one of my favourite things to do in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. It felt like I was truly a mad scientist making weird and crazy creatures by genetically joining two demons together. It is actually one of the most important things you need to do to make your team stronger.
If you don’t want to make a completely new demon, you can upgrade your existing buddy by mixing it with another demon’s essence. The great thing about this is you can focus on changing up one or two skills to enhance an already beloved teammate. I found this particularly important when preparing for a huge boss battle.
Bosses Refusing To Go Down
Preparing for big battles was a little jarring at first. As I travelled the overworld battling demons, it was easy enough for my team to take them down. However, as I hit a boss battle, suddenly my team was weak and ill-equipped.
This meant for every boss fight I had to first determine its weaknesses and strengths. I utilised fusing techniques to breed new demons or change up my team’s attacks and stats to improve my chances. Customising my team for a fight against the stronger monsters was great, however, I wanted to feel that those changes had a big impact on the way the fight played out.
All bosses had high HP, as expected, which created many moments of frustration. I would slowly wither them down only to cop two critical hits and completely destroy my team. The enemies’ moves are random, so each fight was different and it was unknown if I would be wiped out quickly.
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Normally, in an RPG, if I was comfortably taking down enemies at my level then I felt ready to take on the boss. This wasn’t always the case in SMTV. I would often have to slowly grind to a higher level before reattempting the fights.
Combat: Please Take Turns
Combat is where Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance really shines. The battle system is enjoyable and a lot deeper than I expected, with you and your demons taking turns attacking foes and using the skills you have learned along the way.
Each round begins with a set number of icon points, one for each member of the party. As you attack or use an item one icon point is used up. If you manage to chain critical or strong magic attacks together you gain more icon points to use against your enemies. If an enemy dodges your attack you lose an icon point and have fewer turns for the round.
This is where the strategy set in. I had to think about each of my team’s moves, and constantly think about my next turn. This was especially true for magic attacks, knowing I only had a certain number of points to spend; I had to use them wisely.
In battle, you can use items to attack an enemy – the elemental gems were particularly useful. By throwing the gems at a demon I could weaken them without using any MP and induce a critical, adding another icon point to my round. Knowing my enemies’ weaknesses was the key to using these gems to the best of their ability.
At the end of each fight my team gained experience points (XP) allowing them to level up and learn new moves. Like in Pokemon, I had important decisions to make when it came to learning and forgetting different moves. It truly felt like I was in control of the team dynamics.
Demon Haunt: Yes, You Can Make Friends with a Demon
Ah, the Demon Haunt — despite its ominous name, this place is crucial in the game. Here, I spent time bonding with my demons, which not only rewarded me but also helped them level up. Surprisingly, I grew fond of some of them, even though they’re not as cute as Pokémon!
So, how do you get to hang out with a demon? During battles, I had the option to talk to a demon and persuade them to join my team. The demon would ask me questions, and I’d try to choose the answer I thought they wanted to hear. If I selected the correct answer, the demon would then ask for some money or a portion of my HP and MP. Giving it enough of either would convince the demon to join me.
However, if you fail to convince the demon, it will rob you of your money and life before continuing the fight. There’s a significant amount of RNG involved in these negotiations, but successfully persuading a strong beast to join my team always felt fantastic. It’s a brilliant twist on the traditional creature-capturing mechanic.
Character and enemy Design: From Familiar to Extravagant
Shin Megami Tensai V: Vengeance features some fantastic character designs – human characters have an anime style reminiscent of Persona 5!
I love the design of the Nahobino with his long blue hair and muscular body suit. The way that he runs through the world seamlessly really helps to speed up the movement throughout the game. A lot of the demons in our conversations commented on my long, blue locks too!
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At the beginning of the game, you get to choose a name for the protagonist. Given the character’s gender-neutral design, I initially expected to be able to choose their gender. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an option, and the protagonist is referred to as male throughout the story. More choices in role-playing games would have been a welcome addition.
What About the Demons?
SMTV features some of the most creative enemy designs I’ve seen in a long time. It evoked a childlike sense of exploration and curiosity as I ventured through the different regions of Da’at, eager to discover new enemies.
Most of the characters in the world are demons. I particularly liked the design of Gustave, the shopkeeper. His bright green skin, mischievous laugh and almost skeletal look was a highlight. This cheeky guy was always asking for more money every time I spent big!
Each demon’s design was terrifyingly ugly but oddly beautiful at the same time. Some were based on real life animals like horses and lions whereas others were ugly slimes or beautiful fairies. I loved discovering the different demons found in each area and admiring their unique designs. Fusing two demons together also created some very unusual looking creatures.
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Finally, the bosses in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance were a mixed bag. There were both humanoid and demonic-looking beings. I feel these could have been more impactful if they leaned more into the grotesque demon designs rather than the human-like bosses. This would have better matched the game’s theme and atmosphere.
Graphics and Performance: No Demons in this Performance
Shin Megami Tensei V was originally released on the Nintendo Switch, but Vengeance has received the HD treatment with new textures for modern consoles. It looked crisp and clean on my OLED TV, running at a high resolution with a silky smooth frame rate.
However, it was evident that SMTV had been upscaled from a Switch game, as some backgrounds appeared blurry and lacked the extra details typically seen in modern games. Additionally, certain areas were quite foggy, making visibility challenging.
Another frustrating aspect was the limited field of view, which often led to aggravating moments. With so many demons roaming the world, it was difficult to see their exact locations on the screen, resulting in unintended battles.
This issue became particularly problematic during a quest that required extensive backtracking throughout Da’at. The small field of view caused me to repeatedly start battles with monsters, leading to many frustrating deaths. I found myself wishing for a demon repellent to avoid these encounters. Adding such an item in future games would be highly desirable.
Soundtrack: Demons Love the 90s
The music in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is quite creepy, featuring ambient sounds and simple synth beats. However, it’s the battle music that truly stands out; every time a battle started, I couldn’t help but think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The sound effects are also excellent, with lots of gross demon sounds like squelches, burps, and sloppy guts that made me laugh. The Netherworld feels alive with these sounds, along with the navigator demons speaking to you and the collection of gems.
The game features both English and Japanese voice overs. I chose the English version for my playthrough and I really appreciated the effort put in by the actors. It was great to have options for auto playing the cutscenes so I could just sit back and enjoy the sometimes long dialogue. There were also options to fast forward through or skip them altogether.
A Demon Hunting Adventure You Must Experience
I am thrilled to have finally played through Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. This game has been on my radar since its original release on the Switch, and as a huge JRPG fan, I can say it absolutely lived up to the hype.
The unique creature-collecting system captivated me, and I loved getting to know my demon companions by spending time with them. Learning about each demon’s skills, customising my party, and strategising to defeat bosses were immensely enjoyable.
The game has definite Persona vibes, which can be either exciting or off-putting depending on your preference. With all the added content and a new adventure, you’re looking at well over 100 hours of gameplay.
While there are some typical JRPG tropes, like grinding and backtracking, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is a must-play. This definitive edition, with its added content, quality of life upgrades, and a brand new story, is the ultimate way to experience the game.
Alright, it’s time for me to head back to the Netherworld and check in on my ugly, disgusting yet endearing team of demons.
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam.
Quest Daily Scores Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
9/10
A review copy of Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance on Xbox was supplied to Quest Daily for the purpose of this review.
